Nursing mentor receives COVID-19 vaccine from former student

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - The COVID-19 vaccine is being given around the country, with the goal of returning to normalcy.

But for one nurse, her vaccine appointment felt like a return to the classroom.

“Seeing those students out there that are now RN’s, and that’s what it’s all about,” said Dr. Ginger Basone, an RN and part-time RN instructor at SOWELA.

Dr. Basone, a former professor at McNeese has seen hundreds of students come and go during her 15-year career, but she never forgets them.

“I was so pleased that there was someone there that was gonna give me an injection that I knew was gonna give it to me the right way.”

But who was administering her the COVID-19 vaccine? A student she taught ten years ago.

Kara Menard is now a registered nurse at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital, but her journey to where she is now, was not an easy one.

“My last semester of school I had four little kids. I was working as a unit tech here at the hospital, my husband worked away on pipeline. He worked 21 and 7 and the last semester my babysitter unexpectedly passed away during childbirth.”

Despite the hardships, she credits teachers like Basone for helping her along the way.

“I do think about her often, and in my last semester, she really did make a really big difference in me and what I felt I could accomplish in my last semester.”

Basone says she’s filled with pride having a former student now help her.

“If there is someone out there that thinks they can’t pursue nursing or any medical field or any dream because of obstacles… someone like Kara Menard shows me and other people differently.”

A student giving a shot to the professor, that gave her a shot at her dreams.

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